Virgil Abloh x Nike

Nike and Virgil Abloh have officially announced a massive collaborative capsule called “The Ten”. Featuring ten iconic silhouettes of the Nike, Jordan, and Converse archives, “The Ten” was completed in an insane ten month span in what summed up to be one of the fastest and most ambitious collaborations ever completed by Nike.

Virgil, a Chicago native, grew up idolizing Michael Jordan and spent the 90s obsessing over sneakers, hip-hop, and graffiti art, shaping that cultural obsession into a career as a creative director, DJ, and of course a brand founder in OFF-WHITE. His desire to create overflows; in his first-ever visit to Nike’s WHQ in Beaverton, OR last December, he designed a pair of all-black Air Force 1s using an X-ACTO knife and some markers.

The entire collection is broken up into two categories – “REVEALING” and “GHOSTING”. The REVEALING set, which was designed to look accessible (hand-cut, open-source and reconstructed), includes the Air Jordan I, Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Presto, Nike Air VaporMax and Nike Blazer Mid. The “GHOSTING” was designed with translucent uppers to further the idea of revealing and unite the second set of silhouettes through common material. It includes the Converse Chuck Taylor, Nike Zoom Fly SP, Nike Air Force 1 Low, Nike React Hyperdunk 2017 and Nike Air Max 97.

Nike will host “Nike Off Campus” events in New York City and London to celebrate The Ten through presentations of the full collection and exchanges about the ideas that inspired it. “Nike Off Campus” will take place in New York City from September 6 to 8 at 23 Wall Street and in London from September 14 to 19 at NikeLab 1948 LDN.

The first five icons of The Ten — the Air Jordan I, Nike Blazer, Nike Air Presto, Nike Air Max 90 and Nike Air VaporMax — will be pre-released at NikeLab stores in New York City (Sept. 9-13), London (Sept. 18-22), Milan (Sept. 21-25) and Paris (Sept. 26-30).

The full collection including all ten silhouettes will be available in November at NikeLab stores and select retailers worldwide.